Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, also simply known as 999, is an adventure game for the Nintendo DS and the first entry of the Zero Escape series developed by Chunsoft and published in Japan by Spike on December 10, 2009, and in North America by Aksys Games on November 16, 2010. On May 29, 2013, the game was ported to iOS and released in Japan. The port was named 9 Hours 9 People 9 Doors HD Smart Sound Novel as it was released as part of the Smart Sound Novel series so the escape room puzzles were removed in favor of more focus of the visual novel aspects. The English version, titled Zero Escape: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors: The Novel, or simply 999: The Novel, was released on March 17, 2014 worldwide. Plot On November 1st, 2027, Junpei, a normal college student, awakens inside of a small locked room; his last memory is that of being incapacitated using an inhalational anaesthetic and then abducted by an unknown person in a gas mask. Junpei infers that he is aboard a ship based on his surroundings and discovers that a metallic bracelet with the number "5" on the electronic display has been affixed to his wrist. Junpei is forced to escape the room by means of solving puzzles within it before the room floods from a leaking window. Junpei escapes to the upper decks and encounters eight other people, who are also fixed with their own bracelets with unique digits. Junpei identifies one of the eight individuals as his childhood friend Akane Kurashiki. As they find that the ship is no longer taking on water, they are greeted by their unseen host over a loudspeaker. The host, "Zero", informs them they are playing the "Nonary Game", which they can only escape by finding a door marked with a "9" within nine hours; fail and the ship will resume sinking. They learn of electronic devices called REDs and DEADs near each marked door that assure that only three to five people whose bracelet numbers' total digital root equals the number on the door can pass through each door; otherwise, a small bomb planted in each person's stomach will be detonated, killing them. As the group assign themselves code names and plan their escape, the 9th Man holds Clover hostage and forces the group to help him through a numbered door. When he ventures alone through it, he is killed when the bomb in his stomach detonates. Realizing that the game is real, the group proceeds to explore the ship, splitting into groups as necessary. The player has the option to select which group to travel with and other decisions that ultimately affect the fate of the game. Depending on the choices made, Junpei learns of several strange stories that involve forms of morphic resonance communication between people and entities from those groups he travels with, as well as stories of a woman named All-ice, an Egyptian priestess apparently frozen in ice-9 for centuries. Decisions made by Junpei throughout the story generally lead to one of the game's bad endings, where Junpei and at least one other member of the group are murdered by another member or otherwise fail to escape from the ship before time runs out. The player is required to experience the "safe" ending in order to access the "true" ending which will otherwise end prematurely with a "To Be Continued" message. During the true ending, Junpei is told of the events leading up to this point. Nine years before, Cradle Pharmaceutical, led by CEO Gentarou Hongou, kidnapped nine sets of siblings for an experiment involving morphic fields. Hongou's desire was to understand morphic fields to try to cure his prosopagnosia. People are more easily able to access morphic fields under conditions of "epiphany" and "danger" — thus, trying to solve problems in a life-and-death situation, exactly what the Nonary Game sets up. The kidnapped children included Snake and Clover, and Santa and Akane, as well as Lotus' children, twins Nona and Ennea. One of each set of siblings was to be placed aboard the Gigantic, the sister ship of the RMS Titanic, the others in Building Q, a secret facility in the Nevada desert, that both had identical interiors. Both sets of children were to play the Nonary Game with those in the building, solving the puzzles and telepathically sending the solutions to those aboard the ship. However, the experiment went awry: first, Akane was misplaced, put alongside her brother Santa on the ship rather than sent to Building Q. Second, Seven, a detective at the time, had discovered Cradle to be behind the kidnappings, and was able to rescue the children on the ship. As they fled, Hongou recaptured Akane and forced her back into the incinerator room to continue the experiment alone. She was unable to solve the sudoku puzzle to escape the incinerator, and apparently died. However, Akane (June) has been playing the Nonary Game with Junpei and the rest of the group the whole time, implying a mysterious paradox. At this point, the player learns that the gameplay they have witnessed has been through the viewpoint of young Akane during the first Nonary Game. She was able to connect to Junpei in the second Nonary Game nine years in the future through morphic fields and watch his actions. Akane had been able to see multiple futures for Junpei depending on his choices (i.e. the multiple endings), and is able to provide him with guidance as to which choices will succeed. Junpei learns that Ace is really Hongou, and the 9th Man was another Cradle executive. During the second Nonary Game, Ace had lured the 9th Man to act as he did to test the seriousness of the game and to avoid his identity being revealed, as well as obtain the "9" bracelet he possessed. Ace also kills two other Cradle executives that Zero had planted for revenge for the first Nonary Game. Junpei and the group also learn that Zero is really Akane assisted by Santa, having created the second Nonary Game to guide Junpei to the same puzzle in the incinerator that Akane faced nine years earlier. Junpei, under duress and linked by the same situation, is able to communicate back to young Akane, and demonstrates the solution to the puzzle to her. Young Akane reunites with Seven, Santa, Snake, and the other children, and escapes the ship before it sinks. In the present, Junpei and his friends escape, discovering they were inside Building Q all along, and that their bracelets did not contain detonators. Outside, they find an SUV with Ace tied up in the trunk, and they drive off, hoping to catch up to Santa and Akane. As the story closes, they encounter a hitchhiker, who Junpei recognizes to be Alice, and Clover stops the car to let her on. Characters Gameplay The gameplay is divided into two parts. The puzzle part is when the player must solve the puzzles that are blocking their way in order to progress the game, and the visual novel part in which the player can talk to the other characters and make decisions that affect the story of the game. Junpei or the other characters may die depending on what doors and dialogue choices the player makes. There are 6 endings in total (one exclusive to the ios version). The player's decisions will widely affect which ending is received. Only one ending is the true ending. In the iOS version, the escape room puzzles had been removed in replace of narration of the events that happened in the room. The story is now presented in a comic book style and a flow chart that allows the player to skip to different parts of the plot. Because of the bottom screen being removed, the narration appears in the same screen as the dialogue. Music The soundtrack for the game was composed by Shinji Hosoe. Disc One # 9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors - Plays in intro. # Unary Game - Plays in 3rd class cabin. # Extreme Extrication - Plays during scenes. # Binary Game - Plays in 1st class cabin. # Riddle and Puzzle - Plays during scenes, especially during scientific discussions. # Ternary Game - Plays in 2nd class cabin and Casino. # Foreboding - Plays during scenes. # Quaternary Game # Recollection # Quinary Game - Plays in chart room. # Trepidation # Senary Game - Plays in Captain's Quarters. # Quietus Disc Two # Imaginary - Plays during scenes. # Septenary Game - Plays in Operating room and Shower room. # Tranquility # Tinderbox # Eternitybox # Who is Zero? # Octal Game # Nonary Game # Chill and Rigor - Plays during scenes, especially after a death. # Digital Root - Plays during scenes, especially after a revelation. # Morphogenetic Sorrow - Plays during Sudoku. # 9 years - Plays during the epilogue. Trivia * The game's design team is led by Kotaro Uchikoshi, who was also the writer of the acclaimed visual novel Ever 17: The Out of Infinity. * The 999 novelization has several plot differences including: Nona sharing the same fate as Akane, Light giving the rest of the children 4 leaf clover accessories (instead of actual 4 leaf clovers), Akane has amnesia during the Second Nonary Game (when she is June), and the final puzzle of the game is a Rubik's Cube and is not located in the incinerator. http://nonary-game.livejournal.com/8522.html?view=80202 * People who pre-ordered the game received a free watch, a replica of the bracelets used by the players, with the purchase. *According to Kotaro Uchikoshi, the characters were based off the nine character archetypes of the Enneagram of Personality. **1. The 9th Man= Reformer 2. Seven= Helper 3. Ace= Achiever 4. Lotus= Individualist 5. Snake= Investigator 6. Clover= Loyalist 7. Santa= Enthusiast 8. Junpei= Challenger 9. June= Peacemaker *He also compared them to Star Wars characters. **1. Ace= The Emperor 2. Snake= Obi-Wan Kenobi 3. Santa: Han Solo 4. Clover= R2 D2 5. Junpei= Luke Skywalker 6. June= Princess Leia 7. Seven= Chewbacca 8. Lotus= C3PO 9. The 9th Man= Darth Vader Gallery Boxart 999JapanArtbox.jpg|Japanese boxart. 999JapaneseBackCover.jpg|Japanese backcover. 999NAArtbox.jpg|Original North American boxart. 999NorthAmericanBackCover.jpg|Original North American backcover. 999ReprintBoxart.png|New North American boxart. 999ReprintBackcover.PNG|New North American backcover. 999ios.jpg|iOS screen. 999iosicon.jpg|iOS icon. iOS screenshots 999smartsoundnovel.png|Banner. 999iOSStoryCG.png|A Story CG. 999Flowchart.png|A Flowchart. 999Novel1.png|Junpei in the 3rd Class Cabin. 999Novel2.png|Zero in Junpei's flashback. 999Novel3.png|Snake and Seven near D Deck. 999Novel4.png|Junpei's bracelet. 999Novel5.png|June and Santa discover the revolver. 999Novel6.jpg|June and Ace in the cargo room. Artwork 999_players.png|The nine players. Art02.jpg|Art. Art03.jpg|Art. 999 young.jpg|The nine players in 2018. Early concept.jpg|Early concept where players were handcuffed together. Novel Cast_4.png Cast_5.png Main.jpg Couple.png Novel (Vol.1) Vol1.jpg Cast.png Lotus2.png Akane 2.png Junpei.png Divide.png Worried.jpg Worried2.jpg Novel (Vol.2) Vol2.jpg Elevator.png Santa Lotus.png Akane_Junpei.jpg Akane Clover.png Hope.png Reunion.png Right.png Category:Games